Calling all HMS Vanguard (1944-1960) fans

[Cynthia_Johnson]

Has anyone seen this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ostrich-Hobby- ... Sw-exea89W

[Mr. Church]

No I had not seen that. Some photos of it on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/OstrichTony/status/ ... 01/photo/1

[Mr. Church]

Am continuing research into HMS Vanguard.

One thing I have noticed is that one of her Sextuple 40mm Bofors Mounts was removed in advance of the Royal Tour in 1947 and does not seem to have ever been reinstated. I am not sure what the numbering convention was for these mounts so it is the one (or the empty space rather) as highlighted in red here in an image from 1948 from Wikipedia:

Also looking through photos of her from when she first proceeded down the River Clyde in May 1946, her on sea trials and her being drydocked in 1946 it appears doubtful that she ever actually carried her full design compliment of Bofors Gun Directors and deck and superstructure mounted 40mm Bofors MkVII Single Mounts. Then her twin 40mm Bofors STAAG Mount was removed from 'B' Turret in advance of the Royal Tour of 1947.

[Mr. Church]

An interesting document about H.M.S. Vanguard's radar fit. It also gives some details of her firing trials conducted during her overall trials period in May 1946:
http://www.rnmuseumradarandcommunicatio ... NGUARD.pdf

I found it while looking for something else. As is so often the case when researching such things.

[Mr. Church]

Next question is what colour were her anchor chain rubbing strips on the forecastle deck? In the footage of her being towed to the breakers in 1960 they appear to be a milk chocolate brown colour with the surrounding deck plating a medium grey colour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db6bgu0gs-g

The grey is probably faded dark deck grey as Vanguard had been in reserve for a few years prior to the film being recorded. Anyone know off-hand if the rubbing strips were the same brown colour when she was in active service? Thanks.

Turns out I can now answer one of my own questions from August 2019 thanks to gettyimages. They have uploaded some beautiful colour photos of H.M.S. Vanguard in service that I'm sure were not there when I searched before. Including one showing the anchor rubbing strips:

https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news- ... 1304885893

See low resolution extract from photo here for discussion purposes only, copyright rests with gettyimages:

The anchor rubbing strips are definitely brown, same or very similar to that seen in the videos and photos of her in reserve in later years.

Interestingly also the dark grey on her forecastle deck seems darker than that on the roofs of 'A' and 'B' turrets. Hard to know is it intentionally a different & darker shade of grey or a different grade of paint? Or has it simply been repainted more recently than the turret roofs?

[Kiwi Kev]

This battleship is a very interesting ship. Love that it used those old 15 inch turrets, thus maintaining a very visible link to dreadnought battleships of 30 or 40 years previous.
If I could I would post some pictures of my 1:600 scratch build. I chose this scale to go with my other Airfix fleet. Initially I toyed with converting the 1:600 KGV into a Vanguard. But this is easily the best Airfix model I've seen and so it will be built as a KGV. So I experimented with a balsa and card construction of the hull, and it sort of progressed from there.
I later discovered that Micro-masters supplies a 1:600 set of main and secondary turrets, when I was about half way through scratch building my own that turned out OK, so I decided against buying them. Seems a bit weird as I'm not aware of any kit in 1:600, other than attempting a conversion of the KGV as mentioned earlier.
The 40mm directors appear to be CRBFD's that appeared on a lot of post war British ships for various uses including as Seacat Directors. I can only imagine the number of technicians needed to keep all those radars operating. Comments on STAAG firing on HMNZS Royalist at towed targets indicated it was very accurate, demolishing the target and then tracking up the tow cable. So the number of Type 262 Radar laid 40mm barrels on this ship is truly amazing. The high command and good arcs of fire are also noteworthy. They would probably have been operable in almost any conditions, unlike many main deck positions on other ships that would be washed out in a sea way.

[Mr. Church]

By chance while looking for something else I found some interesting colour photos taken aboard Vanguard at the time of the 1953 Coronation Review. They are not tagged as 'Vanguard' so don't come up when you search for Vanguard. They are Alamy Stock photos, copyright rests with original owner. Previews posted here for ease of viewing:

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-battl ... 46805.html

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-battl ... 46804.html

Curiously in contrast to my earlier post, her anchor chafing plates / rubbing strips are painted green at the time of the Coronation Review. They had reverted to brown again by the time of her scrapping.

[81542]

Thank you, Mr Church. Those with their wits about them will also notice that the upper image has been published incorrectly: the sheet anchor should be on the starboard side.

81542

[Mr. Church]

Thank you, Mr Church. Those with their wits about them will also notice that the upper image has been published incorrectly: the sheet anchor should be on the starboard side.

81542

I hadn't initially spotted that but yes quite right the photo is wrongly mirror imaged. I had a quick look but couldn't seem to find any more colour photos taken at the same time. Would love to know what colour 'Y' Turret roof was at that time. In the aerial photos it shows as being distinctly different from 'A', 'B' and 'X' Turret roofs which all appear to be dark deck grey. Or rather are now proven to be dark deck grey as you can see a small portion of the roof of 'A' Turret in the first photo I posted.

[81542]

I would further venture to suggest that the horizontal surfaces ("A" turret roof and what I presume is the paravane house abaft the forward breakwater) visible in the upper image, are not painted dark grey either but what I believe "Dick" identified elsewhere as
"Van Dyke" brown!

81542

[RustyB]

Unseen pictures ...as they were taken by my father as per the note on the reverse. Her served on Vanguard later, but was on Raider when he took these pictures


















HMS Raider

[Timmy C]

Those are some fantastic shots, thank you for sharing them!

[Guest]

Has anyone picked up the 3D wild/Chuanyu Models kit? I haven't seen any reviews and only found a low res unboxing on youtube.

[ABK in NZ]

Yep - A huge multimedia project with nothing extra to purchase, there are some photos on Fb under "3D" of the kit and I'll see if I can post some on here.

About NZD530 spent and then free shipping and after a long wait I'd better get gluing!

ABK in NZ

[Falcon02]

Yep - A huge multimedia project with nothing extra to purchase, there are some photos on Fb under "3D" of the kit and I'll see if I can post some on here.

About NZD530 spent and then free shipping and after a long wait I'd better get gluing!

ABK in NZ

I'd love to see some pics, it's about the same cost in AUD so be good to know what you get. Not made a full 3d printed kit before.

[GTDEATH13]

I have been searching for info on the 3D printed kit and managed to find someone who bought the kit.

First some photos from the various sellers:











These are the photos I was sent







The hull is of the same print quality as the superstructure parts. It needs a good primer-filler so as to get a smooth surface.

The brass parts are excellent but a bit on the thin side similar to Flyhawk quality.

Some cleanup is required.

[JohnMcDermott]

I've started building the 3D Wild "kit". If anyone is interested I can post pictures of its SLOW progress. Not sure where on the forum though ?

[Timmy C]

I've started building the 3D Wild "kit". If anyone is interested I can post pictures of its SLOW progress. Not sure where on the forum though ?

You want to post pictures of a work in progress? Then simply post in Picture Post -> Works In Progress viewforum.php?f=59

[JohnMcDermott]

I've started building the 3D Wild "kit". If anyone is interested I can post pictures of its SLOW progress. Not sure where on the forum though ?

You want to post pictures of a work in progress? Then simply post in Picture Post -> Works In Progress viewforum.php?f=59

I had seen a WIP Forum but I thought it was only for scratch build & radio control. Thanks for your help.

[pascalemod]

Perhaps of interest, to some of the Vanguard fans, but a popular F2P video game announced Vanguard is getting added to the game in the next update. FWIW this gives some high quality renders of the model at the very least to us. Pretty cool. Looks nice in renders, may be as modelling source can be useful.